Too much stress puts wear and tear on your body and damages your health, he said.

Even simple meditation techniques such as saying a mantra in your head or watching your breath can make a big difference.

"Relaxing your body will actually turn down your heart rate. It turns down your blood pressure," Raison said. "We've shown that certain types of meditation will actually lower this inflammatory response to stress, which is undoubtedly a big player in heart disease."

Raison isn't the only fan of alternative healing as a means of stress reduction.

"We completely underestimate the severity of stress and the impact on our health," Bauer said. "When you look at what stress does to us, it reduces our immune function, it delays wound healing ... and raises the risk of heart disease."

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"I think it's not completely without risk," Raison said. "I've certainly known people who sit down to meditate and they're shocked at the thoughts or noise that come into their mind or they realize things about themselves that aren't cool."

Keeping your mind from wandering during meditation is one of the most difficult tricks, he conceded.

"Most people don't make it to a breath or two, and if you can make it to 10 breaths you're doing well."

For that reason, he recommended taking a class or a lesson on how to meditate. He said having a teacher guide you through a meditation session is often more helpful than trying to do it on your own.

It worked for Peek. She started taking a meditation class in the spring and she's seen a big shift in her stress level.

"You practice and over a period of time you're able to focus," Peek said. "If you find yourself in a stressful moment, rather than reacting, you take a moment to take a deep breath in and to just let yourself relax before you act or react."